[rajan29]

Hi All,

I'm looking to buy a dashcam for front and rear with parking mode (minimum 10 hours battery). My budget is £200.

Could someone please recommend me a good dashcam for below £200.

Is it worth getting both front & rear together or separately?

Thanks

[YoMonkeyBoy]

I've been looking at this one: https://www.halfords.com/technology/...uo-hd-dash-cam which is front and rear with Parking mode. Not a bad price to be honest.

[canonsred]

Nextbase 512g comes with good reviews - I believe £200 for front and rear - though my cousin says the front one is more than enough

[ByTheSea]

Originally Posted by canonsred

Nextbase 512g comes with good reviews - I believe £200 for front and rear - though my cousin says the front one is more than enough

I have a 512GW on the front and 312GW on the rear. If you are suggesting that you can get two 512GW for front and rear at a total of £200 then that's ambitious. Current best price is £119, so £238 for two, plus SD cards and maybe a hard-wire kit for the rear one.
I chose two separate cameras because they are less intrusive than the larger dual camera on the front. If you are not concerned about that then Nextbase are good cameras at a reasonable price and the Duo should be OK. I needed a hard-wire kit for the rear one because my car has no suitable cigar lighter type socket anywhere in the rear.

[Quantox]

Originally Posted by ByTheSea

I have a 512GW on the front and 312GW on the rear. If you are suggesting that you can get two 512GW for front and rear at a total of £200 then that's ambitious. Current best price is £119, so £238 for two, plus SD cards and maybe a hard-wire kit for the rear one.
I chose two separate cameras because they are less intrusive than the larger dual camera on the front. If you are not concerned about that then Nextbase are good cameras at a reasonable price and the Duo should be OK. I needed a hard-wire kit for the rear one because my car has no suitable cigar lighter type socket anywhere in the rear.

The Nextbase 512GWR (rear) is listed at £49 but could be bought for less (half price from Halfrauds when you buy the 512GW) and it just plugs into the 512GW, only one card needed. I had this setup fitted, hardwired, card included on a special Halfrauds deal two weeks ago for £208.50. Just need to strike when the special deals are hot.

I did consider the Nextbase Duo HD but it seemed a bit bulky for the front and I wasn't convinced that you'd be able to position it effectively to get a good view out of the back of the GC.

Cheers

Q

[Mikesmith2939]

I have a Viofo A129 dual channel camera that cost £130.

The video quality is very good, they do a three wire hard wire kit for the parking mode.

Has very good manufacturer support with firmware updates and also has a forum in a dash cam review site where Viofo are active and some members also produce their own firmware to further enhance the capabilities of the camera.

[ByTheSea]

Originally Posted by Quantox

The Nextbase 512GWR (rear)...

Yes, I forgot about that model and nearly bought it to go with my 512GW. Again a good combo. My one concern was running the cable to connect up with the front camera so in the end bought the stand-alone 312GW for the rear. I've had no problems with Nextbase. The video is perfectly acceptable for the role it performs. They have a website for s/w and manual downloads and on one occasion when I sent them an email querying something I got an answer the same day. No regrets.

[rajan29]

Hi guys, thanks for the recommendations. How is the parking mode on 512GW? how long does it last and does it drain down the battery?

Could you please tell me how you set up for the parking mode? It's one of the main reason I'm buying the dashcam.

Thanks

[Mrklaw]

I get confused by all the special boxes etc you seem to need for parking modes and to protect the battery. These things presumably can run off USB power so why can't you just run them off a big 20,000mah portable power pack or similar (something big enough to handle x hours parking mode), and then have that power pack constantly recharged from the car's USB ports or 12v port when the engine is on?

[ByTheSea]

Originally Posted by rajan29

...(1) How is the parking mode on 512GW? (2) how long does it last and (3) does it drain down the battery? (4) Could you please tell me how you set up for the parking mode?...

From the manual (this is for both the 512 and 312, I queried the 312 manual with Nextbase and it is currently wrong)...

Parking Mode (turn ON or OFF during Setup mode)
When Parking Mode has been turned on, the Dash Cam enters standby mode when the 12Vdc supply has been turned OFF (typically removing your ignition key). The Dash Cam will also enter standby mode if no physical movement is detected for 5 minutes, this is designed to allow use of a permanent 12Vdc supply, i.e hard-wire kit. Should physical movement of the vehicle be detected, the Dash Cam will power on and start recording a 2 minute protected video. If no further physical movement is detected then the Dash Cam will return to standby mode, if physical movement is detected subsequently, then the camera will continue to record normally, i.e. driving once more.
Options: On and Off
Default Setting: Off

(1) It works as the above description.
(2) Ditto.
(3) I've left the car for 2 weeks and the camera battery still had charge.
(4) During Setup, and can be changed via the Menu button.

Note that due to the way the F30 series controls ignition powered fuses/sockets the cameras remain powered and active for around 15 mins after ignition off. They then go into stand-by as described.

[Mrklaw]

so in parking mode they aren't constantly recording? If you get hit in a supermarket carpark for example you'll only get video after they've powered up and get going - so at least a few seconds lag?

Ideally they'd be recording constantly to ram (maybe lower bitrate to avoid overheating), then on impact they dump that to SD card and continue recording afterwards.

[ByTheSea]

Originally Posted by Mrklaw

so in parking mode they aren't constantly recording?...

You could put the camera into that mode by powering it from a fuse which is permanently on (not turned off by ignition). You could also turn the screen off to minimise power consumption. If you want detail go to the Nextbase website and follow the links to Support. Here's the link for the 512GW...

https://www.nextbase.com/en-gb/help-...512gw-support/